1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to system and method for supplying uninterruptible power to a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system with an active injector connected to a power supply input, an alternative power supply, and a power source equipment input as the PoE power. The present invention relates to an uninterrupted power supply for a powered device in an extended remote location by an emergency PoE back-up power supply at the location of the powered device.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
A “Power over Ethernet” device is a powered device that works on electrical power supplied by an Ethernet cable. Power over Ethernet (“PoE”) describes a technique to deliver electrical power via Ethernet cabling. A single cable transmits data and electrical power to devices, such as IP security cameras, network webcams, wireless access points, VoIP phones, network routers and others. There is no need for a separate power source for the PoE device. IEEE PoE standards set signaling standards for power source equipment, the actual power source, and the powered device, so that the powered devices and power source equipment can communicate. The power source equipment and powered device detect each other and regulate the amount of power supplied to the PoE device. By IEEE PoE standards, there is only a limited power transmission available through an Ethernet cable.
An uninterruptible power supply “(“UPS”), or uninterruptible power source, provides emergency power to a powered device when the main power source is disrupted. The UPS is an immediate and generally instantaneous alternative power supply available as soon as the main power source fails. In contrast, a standby or emergency system is a separate power source, which must be activated and then switched over to supply the powered device. The immediacy and lack of delay are important for sensitive electronic equipment and continuous data processing.
The UPS protects powered devices from loss of data, loss of status information related to the powered device, and the subsequent costs associated with repair and resetting of the powered device. Those extra costs avoided can include delays in data processing, sending technicians off site to the location of the powered device, and loss of revenue from downtime of the system. UPS also prevents disruption of the software of a powered device. An unexpected loss of power may necessitate a re-boot or restart of the system, causing more delay and downtime beyond the downtime caused by the disruption of power.
In the prior art, the UPS has been an alternate power switch, activated as soon as a power disruption is detected. A switch changes the regular power supply to an alternative power source, such as a battery. Critical devices, such as heart monitors and breathing machines in a hospital room, may cease to function with an unexpected loss of power. The UPS intervenes during these moments to eliminate all the associated equipment and network downtime.
Various patents and publications are available in the field of uninterruptible power supplies. United States Patent Application No. 2012/0080944, published by Recker, et al. on Apr. 5, 2012, discloses a method and system that, in relevant part, keep a lighting grid functional in the absence of power. An intelligent control device, a wall switch, for instance, and a lighting grid must be wired to communicate with each other and have individual battery backups. When the intelligent control device identifies a power outage, it communicates to those devices with their own backups on the grid to adjust to motion and environment, as well as to change intensity and color.
For PoE devices, the incorporation of a UPS is complicated because of coordination between the power supply and the powered device. The PoE device is typically far removed from the actual power supply, such as an AC power outlet. A disruption in the AC power at the power outlet affects the power source equipment, not the PoE device. The UPS for the power source equipment is the prior art system of a battery or alternate power supply with an instantaneous switch. There is no UPS for a PoE device because the PoE device has no power cord to a power supply, as in the prior art.
United States Patent Application No. 2009/0243391, published by Susong, III, et al. on Oct. 1, 2009, describes a power supply designed to provide power to networking utilities such as routers and switches. The power supply accepts alternating current, converts it to direct current, and powers at least one PoE port. The power source also includes an internal battery backup, and redundancies to make sure the power remains continuous. In order to provide continuous power, the device includes a failover communication interface between the main power supply and a backup source operating in an off-line mode. The failover interface detects when the main power source has been interrupted, at which time the backup source becomes the on-line source to provide power to the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,286,556, issued to Jackson on Oct. 23, 2007, discloses a system and method for delivering power to a number of devices attached to a central networking device. The central networking device delivers power over an Ethernet network, and can provide backup power to those devices on the network that would normally not warrant multiple redundant power sources. The system discloses delivery of power over a cable with different wires for data and power, or over the same cable using different frequencies and filters to maintain the integrity of the signals.
The prior art systems for providing UPS for a PoE device fail to address the separation between the power source equipment and PoE devices. For example, remote network webcams connect by Ethernet cables for the power and data transmission to a control center. The control center is located miles away and monitors multiple network webcams in other locations far and near. The prior art systems provide UPS for the control center as the power source equipment for the remote network webcams. The advance prior art systems relate to prioritizing which PoE devices continue to receive power during an outage at the control center as the power source equipment. There is no disclosure of any power supply issue at the location of the PoE device. Local power management is an unnecessary redundancy of the control center management of the prior art.
However, not all remote network webcams can use the control center as power source equipment. Over long distances, the voltage necessary to transfer power and data from the control center to each remote network webcam is too high for Ethernet cables. The capacity of the Ethernet cable is insufficient to power remote PoE devices in many instances. Voltage drops or current fluctuations are created by resistance build-ups over lengthy power runs through Ethernet cables. Traditional PoE injectors overcome the long distance and Ethernet cable capacity issues. The PoE injector connects local AC power to the PoE device, concurrent with the data transmission between the control center and the PoE device. The prior art UPS systems for PoE devices do not address the injector-based systems for extensive and wide networks. Power disruptions at the local level of the injector and PoE device continue to affect systems with widespread PoE devices. A localized power outage can still disrupt PoE devices within an overall network, even as UPS prior art protects the control center. Prior art UPS systems have not yet addressed the expansion of PoE devices in wide and remote networks.
Additionally, PoE devices rely on passive injectors. The amount of power received from the PoE device is the amount of power received as a pass-through the available cables. There is no active management of the amount of power in order to support the powered device. The system is limited to the length of cable between the power source equipment and the powered device because the amount of power passed through controlled the power available to the powered device. The systems with old cables and old power source equipment having previous PoE standards (such as IEEE 802.3af) would never be able to pass through sufficient power for the powered devices that require the updated PoE standards, such as IEEE 802.3at. The account for technology upgrades to the physical constraints of the equipment, there is a need for a system to actively set the threshold for the powered device output.
Further mechanical limitations include the length of cable. The range of the network cannot be extended due to the inherent limitation of 100 m per segment of CAT-5 based Ethernet cables. There is a need to extend the range, while maintaining the 10/100/1000 base-T functionality. The powered device must maintain connections from the control center of the network to the remote location of the system and from the location of the system to the powered device.
It is an object of the present invention to provide embodiments of a system and method for supplying uninterruptible power to a PoE device.
It is an object of the present invention to provide embodiments of a system and method for supplying uninterruptible power from any PoE power source equipment at a predetermined amount according to a selected PoE device.
It is an object of the present invention to provide embodiments of a system and method for supplying uninterruptible power to a PoE device at an extended range from the system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide embodiments of a system and method for supplying uninterruptible power to a PoE device through an injector with a power autonegotiation module and regulator.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide embodiments of a system and method for supplying uninterruptible power to a PoE device through an Ethernet switch between the PoE device and the PoE power source equipment.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide embodiments of a system and method for supplying uninterruptible power to a PoE device through an Ethernet switch between the PoE device and the system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide embodiments of a system and method for supplying uninterruptible power to a PoE device at a location remote from a control center and the system.
These and other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specifications and appended claims.